


Mat(ch) Made In Heaven

by notionally



Category: GOT7
Genre: Arguing, Bickering, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Sexual Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, idolverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-18 19:07:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16124846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notionally/pseuds/notionally
Summary: Comebacks are always tough. When everyone is stressed and tensions are running high, people can get into arguments over the stupidest things.Jaebum gets annoyed at Jinyoung for taking up too much space on a sleeping mat, and somehow that turns into Jaebum grabbing Jinyoung by the front of his shirt. Jackson has to step in to prevent a fight, and sends them off to talk through their differences.Except...they end up doing a little more than just talking.(Based on a story told by Jackson in a couple of interviews.)





	Mat(ch) Made In Heaven

**Author's Note:**

> so this is based on what happened in two interviews: [Yu Huiyeol's Sketchbook (28/09/2018)](https://twitter.com/jacksonstardust/status/1045716328860925953) and [Youngstreet radio (07/08/2017)](https://twitter.com/haetbitmark/status/894543999276535809)
> 
> the way Jackson re-enacted it was so filled with sexual tension I just had to write this. it was meant to be totally crack but it's turned into a fairly emotional thing because I love FEELINGS lol
> 
> come and scream with me about this / jjp in general on twitter @[notionxally](https://twitter.com/notionxally)

 

Sometimes, when people have stupid fights, they say that they can’t remember how it started.

But Jaebum remembers exactly how this started.

It started with a mat.

 

*

 

It’s one of those weeks. Long schedules, back to back recordings, and interviews, and in between all of that, worst of all, hours spent waiting. Waiting for their turn to go on stage. Waiting for all the hard-working staff to check the sound, the lights, the cameras. Endless waiting.

Jaebum can see the exhaustion on the members’ faces. Can see it in the way their shoulders slump the second the cameras stop rolling. Can see it in the sight of Youngjae curled up in an armchair, his cheek pressed into the heel of his hand. He’s going to get knots in his neck from sleeping like that, Jaebum thinks, but at the same time he knows how little sleep Youngjae’s had in the last week, can’t bear to wake him up.

And he can hear how much everyone is struggling. It blares like a siren, the silence in the waiting room. Jackson’s on his phone, scrolling mindlessly, his eyes lookin glazed over, unfocused.

“We have to go again,” the producer’s saying to them. “There are some shots that don’t look great, we need to re-record.”

This is what recordings are always like – countless performances just to get enough shots to piece together one perfect performance. There’s always something that could go wrong. A step out of time, a wonky formation, or even just a facial expression that looks anything less than the absolute peak of sexiness.

“What was wrong this time?” Jaebum asks, after thanking the producer and bowing politely. The producer makes some vague comment about it looking a little messy. It’s always hard to tell if there’s actually something wrong, or if the producers just want to get some shots as backup.

He exhales sharply in frustration as the producer leaves, running his fingers through his hair. The members look crestfallen at the thought of having to do yet another round of the performance. They usually love performing, but it’s hard to stay motivated when you’re exhausted and running on less than ten hours of sleep in the past seven days combined.

“I think it was me,” pipes up Yugyeom, “I was out of time in the second verse.” He looks at Jaebum, then at Jinyoung, with eyes that are filled with misery. Yugyeom can be so incredibly hard himself, especially when he thinks he’s let the rest of the group down.

“It wasn’t you,” Jinyoung says quickly. “It doesn’t matter.”

But Jinyoung’s words ring in Jaebum’s head, and he frowns. “Of course it matters,” he says, a little more sharply that he intended, turning to Jinyoung in irritation. “If we keep messing up, we’ll be here all night.”

Jinyoung huffs impatiently. “I just mean we don’t need to point fingers,” he says. “We’re a team.”

Jaebum purses his lips. He wasn’t trying to assign blame, he wasn’t that kind of leader. But he wanted them to get it right the next time, because he wanted everyone to be able to go home, and get some desperately needed sleep.

Before he can explain himself, however, Jinyoung’s speaking again. “Let’s all just get some rest before we have to go on stage again,” he says, and just like that, the conversation’s over.

Jackson, who’s barely looked up from his phone, goes back to scrolling, looking just as dead behind the eyes as before. Youngjae’s still curled up in his armchair, while Mark’s sprawled across the sofa.

Sighing heavily, and loudly, Jinyoung flops down onto the mats laid out in the middle of the waiting room. He lies himself down, turning away from Jaebum and tucking one arm under his head as a makeshift pillow. Yugyeom and Bambam, who had jumped to their feet when the producer had entered to deliver the news, shuffle back to the other sofa and curl up next to each other.

Jaebum glances at Jinyoung, feeling the heat of annoyance rising in him. “Hey, don’t you think you should lie on the mat the other way?” he says, nudging at Jinyoung’s back with the toe of his shoe.

Jinyoung twists round to look at him, his eyes flicking to Jaebum’s shoe in irritation, but if he’s upset at Jaebum for basically kicking him to get his attention, he doesn’t say anything about it. Instead, he just says, a little belligerently, “Why?”

“So there’s space for the _maknaes_ to sleep,” Jaebum says, gesturing at Yugyeom and Bambam.

At this, Jinyoung props himself up onto an elbow, but before he can say anything, Yugyeom is piping up, “No, that’s okay hyung, we don’t want to sleep we’re watching something.” He waves his phone to demonstrate and Bambam nods eagerly in agreement.

“Mm, okay,” murmurs Jinyoung, and he lies back down on the mat, this time on his back. His eyes flutter shut slowly, like he’s done with the conversation.

But Jaebum’s not done talking.

“Yah, don’t you think you’re being a little inconsiderate?” he asks, slightly louder this time, but still not loud enough to attract the attention of the others in the room.

Jinyoung’s eyes fly open. “What is your problem?” he asks, and there is cold frustration in his voice. Instead of cooling Jaebum down, it heats him up. “Why can’t I lie on the mat this way?”

“Look at Youngjae, he’s all curled up, that’s bad for his back,” Jaebum says. “You’re being selfish.”

“Selfish?” Jinyoung pushes himself up and gets to his feet. “For lying on the mat horizontally instead of vertically?”

Jaebum clenches his jaw. “It’s not just about the mat,” he growls. “It’s about the members.”

“I know it’s not about the mat,” hisses Jinyoung in response, and he’s so close to Jaebum now, their chests are almost touching, “you’re just picking a fight with me.”

“I am not picking a fight with you,” shoots back Jaebum. He feels so tightly coiled with tension that he could explode, and Jinyoung’s right up in his personal space, and his chest hurts when he tries to breathe.

Jinyoung scowls. “Maybe you’re picking a fight because you know you’re the one who messed up the choreography,” he says. “In the last chorus, you turned left instead of right.”

He’s right, of course. And of course Jinyoung had been the only one to notice that split second when Jaebum turned the wrong way, then whirled round to correct his mistake. Not a huge error, but enough to make a large portion of the tape unusable unless the editors made a lot of creative cuts.

“Yeah, you’re right, I made a mistake,” Jaebum admits, squaring his shoulders, refusing to back down. “But you still shouldn’t lie on the mat like that. You’re taking up too much space.”

Jinyoung scoffs, rolls his eyes, and steps away. “You’re unbelievable,” he snaps, “you’re getting on my case when _you’re_ the one who’s _let everyone down_ –”

He doesn’t get to complete that sentence, because the tightly wound spring in Jaebum’s gut has come undone, and he charges at Jinyoung in a blind sort of rage. Before he even realises what’s going on, his hands are fisted in the front of Jinyoung’s shirt, and he’s simultaneously yanking Jinyoung towards him, and shoving him backwards so that they’re both stumbling awkward over the mat, that god forsaken _mat_.

“Oh, oh, oh!” shouts Jackson, leaping suddenly to his feet. “What the hell!”

Mark’s awake now, and so is Youngjae, both of them staring at Jaebum and Jinyoung in bewilderment. Yugyeom and Bambam aren’t watching whatever they watching anymore, and are instead also staring at the altercation with mild panic in their eyes.

“Okay, seriously, what is going on?” asks Jackson, placing one hand on each of Jaebum’s and Jinyoung’s shoulder, gently nudging them apart. But Jaebum and Jinyoung are too busy glaring at each other to explain themselves.

Bambam’s the one who speaks up, in the end. “Something about the mat,” he says, hesitantly. For all his bravado he is just a child at heart, and Jaebum feels a pang of guilt at losing his temper in front of him – in front of all of them – again, when he had promised that he would try harder not to.

“The mat?” repeats Jackson. He furrows his brow, gestures at the mat beneath their feet. “This mat?”

“Yeah,” replies Bambam, nodding. “Jinyoung-hyung was lying across it that way,” – here, Bambam gestures with one arm to demonstrate – “but Jaebum-hyung wanted him to lie the other way.”

This, if anything, makes Jackson look more confused. He turns to Jaebum and Jinyoung, annoyance evident in his face. “I don’t know what is up with you guys, whether it’s about the mat or something else, but – go outside, take a walk, talk it out,” he says, firmly, and Jaebum is reminded suddenly of why he had once chosen Jackson as the one member other than himself he would pick to be leader.

Reluctantly, Jaebum and Jinyoung shuffle towards the door, Jackson pushing them out. “And don’t come back until you’re best friends again!” he shouts, before slamming the door shut behind them.

Then it’s just the two of them, the empty corridor stretching out away from them in either direction.

“Look–” Jaebum starts, but Jinyoung spins round on his heel, starts to walk away.

Jaebum’s about to lose it again, but Jinyoung says flatly as he turns, “Not here – let’s go somewhere more quiet,” and that makes sense, Jaebum supposes, so he follows wordlessly. His silence will suffice as his protest.

They end up pushing through a set of double doors through to an empty hallway that seems to lead to a loading bay round the back of the building, and finally Jinyoung stops walking, turns around. Jaebum can see the faint shadow of dark circles under his eyes, even through all the makeup they’re wearing.

“I’m sorry,” Jinyoung says, and that’s – not at all what Jaebum had been expecting. He blinks mutely at Jinyoung, who sighs, rubs his temples, and continues, “What I said – about you letting us down – that was uncalled for. And untrue.”

Jaebum shakes his head. He can feel his anger slowly seeping out of him, but he still feels like his body is almost vibrating with energy, he’s been so tense and stressed and highly strung for such a long time now.

“No, you were right, I did mess up the steps,” he says, because it’s the truth. And he feels guilty about it.

“Yeah, but I shouldn’t have said what I did,” Jinyoung insists, and he’s frowning, and he looks frustrated, and oddly upset in a way that doesn’t make Jaebum angry, just makes him frightened, and sad. “You haven’t let us down, not at all, you’re the best leader, and you do so much for us–”

“Hey, hey, what’s going on?” Jaebum asks, reaching out a hand and placing it on Jinyoung’s shoulder. He tightens his grip. It wasn’t something he’d noticed before this, but he can’t remember the last time he’d touched Jinyoung. Not like this, at least – affectionately, reassuringly.

Jinyoung tightens his jaw, throws his head up and looks at the ceiling. Like he’s trying to keep tears from falling. “You make me so angry sometimes, you know,” he muttered through partially clenched teeth.

His words make Jaebum’s heart sink. “I’m sorry,” he murmurs, feeling the twisting ache in his chest and wanting suddenly to crumple over, but he can’t do that, he’s the leader and he needs to be strong. “I’ll do better, and you know you can always tell me if I’m pissing you off, right?” he adds, placing both hands on Jinyoung’s shoulders. “I’m sorry for getting angry with you about the mat, it’s not a big deal–”

“It’s not about the mat!” shouts Jinyoung suddenly, shoving Jaebum’s arms away from him. He rubs at his eyes with the heels of his hands, and Jaebum can see the faint glisten of tears on his cheeks. “You know it was never about the mat,” Jinyoung whispers.

No, it wasn’t. But Jaebum doesn’t know what it was about, and he was the one who’d started the whole argument about the stupid mat.

“Tell me, please, Jinyoung-ah,” Jaebum pleads. His stomach churns, and he feels sick, utterly disgusted with himself, to see how broken Jinyoung looks. “Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it – I’ll make it right.”

Jinyoung shakes his head. “That’s exactly the problem,” he says, and his voice is soft now, and sad, but it also sounds helpless. “You do everything to make things right.”

Okay. Now Jaebum’s properly confused. He tilts his head to the side. “What?” he blurts out, not very eloquently, but it gets the message across.

This at least tugs a feeble chuckle out of Jinyoung. “You take it all on yourself – to make sure everyone’s okay. But you don’t take care of yourself. Or let anyone take care of you.”

Jaebum stares at Jinyoung. This isn’t in the slightest what he had been expecting.

“You were going to do it – I could tell, when Gyeom said that it was his fault. You were going to say that it was all your fault,” Jinyoung adds, sounding totally wrecked. “It made me so angry. Because we all made mistakes, and we will all continue to make mistakes. But you forgive all of us. You never forgive yourself.”

None of this makes sense. “But – but you’re the one who pointed out my mistake,” says Jaebum, quietly, like he’s still trying to piece together the puzzle in his head.

Jinyoung grimaces. “I know, but – oh, I don’t know. I was so mad at you, and you were taking out your frustration at yourself on me, but you also weren’t actually opening up to anyone on or relying on us,” he says, so quickly that all the words almost blur into each other. His voice catches. “You weren’t relying on me.”

And then, maybe, suddenly, Jaebum gets it.

“Jinyoung-ah,” he says, and he tugs Jinyoung into his arms, wraps his arms around Jinyoung’s shoulders. “Jinyoung-ah, I’m so sorry.”

Startlingly, this makes Jinyoung break out of Jaebum’s grasp again.

“No!” he shouts. “No, you still don’t get it! I don’t want you to apologise, I don’t want you to comfort me. I don’t want _leader Im Jaebum_ , I want _you_.” Jinyoung lets out a strangled noise of exasperation, rakes his fingers through his hair. Their stylists are going to be so cross with them, Jaebum thinks to himself, his brain running away with itself, trying to escape the stress of the moment with distraction. But no – he’s not going to do that, not when Jinyoung’s literally telling him that he needs to stop pretending he’s okay.

“I just want you, hyung,” Jinyoung’s saying now, his voice getting louder, more strident with rage. “The Jaebummie I trained with and debuted with and who I shared everything with. Not the Im Jaebum who feels like he needs to carry the world on his shoulders.”

Jaebum focuses on the moment, on the way he’s feeling right now. Drags his mind away from all those idle thoughts that keep trying to break him away from where he is right now. With Jinyoung.

He feels the panic that crawls through his skull, from the back of his neck and up into his temples. The fear that they aren’t doing enough, that their music isn’t as good, their dances aren’t as energetic, their personality aren’t as charming, as they need to be. The feeling of utter hopelessness, because he doesn’t know what else they could possibly be doing – they’re already pushing themselves beyond breaking point.

And he feels the guilt. He feels it weighing heavily on him, every time he looks at the members and he sees how tired they look. He feels the cloying sense of shame that he’s not a good enough leader, that he’s letting his members – who are, in so many ways, his family now – down.

It hurts. His chest feels like it’s suddenly been impacted, and he physically crumples over from the aching sense of despair.

“Jinyoung-ah,” he manages to gasp out, and he can feel hot tears springing to his eyes. Jinyoung looks alarmed, takes a step towards him, but no – that’s not what Jaebum wants right now. He stumbles backwards in a sort of wild panic.

“No, no,” he mutters. His vision is swimming. “Is this what you wanted?” he shouts. “Yeah, I’m so fucking stressed, every single waking moment! I can’t sleep, and when I do sleep I wake up every hour in a cold sweat because I’m so fucking worried about whether the comeback is going to be okay, and if everyone is going to survive it, because I can see – I can see how much it’s taking out of all of them, out of you.

“And I’m angry at myself because I don’t know what the fuck I’m supposed to do! And it’s terrifying, it’s so terrifying – I have no idea what I’m doing and every single day just feels like a huge fucking pile of _too much_ and I don’t know where to start–”

Jaebum breaks off abruptly. He swallows, takes a deep, shaky breath. He looks up, sees Jinyoung watching him, not looking so much alarmed any more as – just calmly concerned.

And it feels like he’s seeing Jinyoung for the first time again, or at least the first time in a long time. He sees those huge, round eyes, bright with intelligence, but also empathy, and compassion. He sees the crinkle lines that arc down from the corners of those eyes, the ones that appear when Jinyoung laughs, but also when he scrunches up his face with worry. He sees the full, pink lips, sees the slight downturn of their corners in sadness.

He sees the face of his best friend.

“Jinyoung-ah,” he says again, but this time he’s reaching towards him, stumbling forwards, clutching onto the front of Jinyoung’s shirt again, like he had in the waiting room earlier. Except this time it’s different.

“Jaebum-ah,” Jinyoung breathes, reaching out for Jaebum as well, his hands – large, and warm, and lightly calloused – coming to rest on the sides of Jaebum’s neck. His fingers curling ever so slightly into Jaebum’s hair.

And then Jaebum’s about to apologise, but he remembers Jinyoung’s words, and he stops himself.

He thinks about what he actually means, when he says ‘I’m sorry’.

He means ‘thank you’, Jaebum thinks. And he means, ‘I need you’.

So that’s what he says.

“I need you,” he whispers, urgently, desperately, snaking his arms around Jinyoung’s waist and pulling him close. Buries his face into the side of Jinyoung’s head, his nose pressed into Jinyoung’s hair. “Jinyoung-ah, I need you so much it scares me, it makes me too afraid to need you at all.”

But that’s not all.

It hits Jaebum so suddenly, and so forcefully, that he marvels at how he had never known it before.

He pulls back slightly, to look at Jinyoung in the eyes. Their faces are so close that their noses are almost touching. He stares at Jinyoung, at that beautiful face.

Not just the face of his best friend.

But the face of the only person, Jaebum thinks, that he’s ever loved.

He kisses him.

Jinyoung’s lips are slightly salty with his tears, or maybe it’s Jaebum’s that are salty with his own tears. But it doesn’t matter, because Jinyoung’s lips are also warm, and soft, and the feel of them pressed against his own sends tongues of fire licking through Jaebum’s body.

And when Jinyoung parts his lips ever so slightly to let out a gasp of surprise, Jaebum isn’t thinking about it, just tongues his way into Jinyoung’s mouth. He’s filled with a sudden desperation to taste Jinyoung, to savour every last inch of him.

Jaebum’s hands slide up to cup Jinyoung’s face, resting on the sharp plane of his jawline, and he’s pulling him closer, impossibly closer, until there isn’t the slightest breath of space between.

“Jaebum,” murmurs Jinyoung, suddenly, unexpectedly, his lips moving against Jaebum’s. His voice is breathy, and thick with desire.

It sends Jaebum crashing back to reality.

He releases Jinyoung, who lets out a small noise of surprise and complaint.

“Oh my god,” Jaebum says, “I’m so so–“

“No,” snaps Jinyoung, cutting him off. “Don’t you dare say it. Have you learnt nothing?”

Despite himself, despite it all, Jaebum quirks a half-smile. “I don’t want to confuse things,” he says, but he’s reluctant as well, because this isn’t confusing for him. This is the clearest things have ever been for him. He wants to kiss Jinyoung again. That’s very clear, and simple, unlike anything that he’s experienced in the past few months.

“I’m not confused,” says Jinyoung, firmly, but there’s a hint of apprehension in his eyes, in the tilt of his brow. “Are you?”

Jaebum smiles. He has no idea what they’re talking about, really. Whether they’re talking about the kiss, or something more. But whatever it is, he knows what his answer is.

“No,” he says, “I’m not confused.”

He reaches a hand to cup the back of Jinyoung’s neck, like he’s done so many times before, but this time it feels different. He pulls Jinyoung closer.

“I said that I needed you,” Jaebum says, his voice low and husky, and his want is so audibly evident in his tone that it startles himself. But it doesn’t stop him. “I do need you,” he continues, “but I think I want you as well.”

Jinyoung swallows. Jaebum watches the rise and fall of his adam’s apple.

“I think,” Jinyoung says, “I think I want you as well.”

Jaebum presses their foreheads together. He can feel the heat of Jinyoung’s breath against his lips. “We should get back,” he whispers, because as much as he wants to stay here, with Jinyoung, just the two of them in a tiny sliver of the world that seems to temporarily be all their own – as much as he wants that, they have responsibilities to get back to.

“Can we continue this later?” Jinyoung asks, his voice velvety smooth. He doesn’t look at all like he’s planning on going anywhere.

Jaebum smirks. “The conversation?” he queries, “or the making out?”

This is the thing that ends up breaking the tension that has been mounting between them. Jinyoung’s face cracks into a grin, and he even manages a chuckle. “Glad to see you’re back to normal,” he quips, wriggling out of Jaebum’s grasp.

Jaebum smiles. He still feels tired, of course. But he feels a little more steady. Less like he’s being swept along in a storm with nowhere to put his feet down.

“Let’s go,” he says, and then he’s grabbing Jinyoung’s hand in his own, tugging him along.

Once they’re on the way, Jinyoung tries to let go of his hand, but Jaebum holds on more tightly. He isn’t ready to let go, not just yet. Jinyoung makes a complaining noise, but Jaebum sneaks a glance back at him, and Jinyoung’s smiling.

Jaebum can’t help grinning all the way back to the waiting room as well.

When they finally get back, and push the door open, they see five worried faces staring up at them.

“You’re finally back!” exclaims Bambam in relief. “We thought you’d died!”

“We were worried,” agrees Youngjae.

Jinyoung rolls his eyes, slipping his hand out of Jaebum’s and dropping into the sofa. “We’re fine,” he says, “we talked things out.”

Jackson narrows his eyes at them. Jaebum sees him exchange a look at Mark. They’re communicating with their eyes, but Jaebum can’t figure out what they’re saying. Nor does he care.

“Yeah, we had a good talk,” Jaebum agrees, sitting down on the sofa as well, curling his arm around Jinyoung, who beams and tucks his head into the crook of Jaebum’s neck. Nothing unusual for them, but Jackson’s still squinting at them.

“A good talk,” Jackson repeats, “great. I’m glad that all the _talking_ helped you guys sort things out.”

Jaebum beams at Jackson. He’s too happy to care that Jackson – quite rightly – doesn’t believe them.

His heart is thrumming with happiness. There’s _something_ – whatever that something is – between him and Jinyoung. And the thought fills him with hope, like a bright beam of light cutting through all of the clutter in his mind.

 

*

 

Two years later, Jackson’s still talking about it.

“It was like watching a drama!” Jackson enthuses to their interviewer. He nudges Bambam into re-enacting the scene with him, and to be perfectly honest – it’s pretty accurate.

Jaebum just grins at the little skit playing out in front of him. He can’t even bring himself to get angry at the teasing, not when that day – that stupid fight – brought him to the most wonderful thing in his life.

Next to him, Jinyoung’s ducking his head, but he’s also smiling broadly, those familiar crinkles appearing at the corners of his eyes. Jaebum wants to reach out to him, pull him close, but they’re on camera, so he resists the urge.

They’re used to all this teasing, by now. The members all know the story of how ‘mom and dad’ got together. Jaebum and Jinyoung have argued countless times before, but the ‘mat argument’ sticks out in all of their minds because they all know it was the stupid fight that started it all.

Jaebum exchanges a quick glance with Jinyoung, a moment later, when all the fuss has died down slightly. There’s unbridled affection twinkling in Jinyoung’s eyes, a look that Jaebum knows so well, that he loves so much.

He stares back fondly at the face of the man he loves, and who loves him back. Two years into a relationship that is by no means all smooth-sailing, but that is as weird and wonderful as both of them are.

And, to think.

It all started with a mat.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I listened to all of Verse 2 on repeat while writing this and let me tell you I was in my feels
> 
> twitter: @[notionxally](https://twitter.com/notionxally)


End file.
